I am a Lecturer in Business and Society in the School of Management at the University of Bath. I have worked with FTSE 100 listed companies on a range of corporate responsibility/sustainability consulting projects and completed a Ph.D. in Corporate Responsibility and an M.Sc. in Environmental Management culminating in over 16 years of academic and practical experience in this area.My research focuses on the gap between corporate responsibility rhetoric and practice. I am particularly interested in firms’ motives for adopting corporate responsibility tools and in the decoupling/ internalisation of these tools.Also, I am increasingly concerned with the implementation of responsible research and innovation in industry. In this context, I have a particular interest in the link between corporate responsibility tools and responsible research and innovation.
With 190 states taking part in the Paris climate talks, there are clearly some for whom the outco... more With 190 states taking part in the Paris climate talks, there are clearly some for whom the outcome matters more than others. There are the small states, such as Kiribati and the Marshall Islands, for which a deal to reduce global emissions and curb climate change is a matter of survival. Then there are the big players, such as China, the US, Russia and the EU, upon which a deal will rely.
SpringerBriefs in Research and Innovation Governance, 2015
Corporate responsibility (CR) tools have an excellent potential to facilitate the implementation ... more Corporate responsibility (CR) tools have an excellent potential to facilitate the implementation of responsible research and innovation (RRI) in industry. This chapter provides a detailed account of existing CR tools. It develops selection criteria for choosing the tools with the greatest potential to assist the implementation of RRI in industry. Background information on these tools is given, as well as data on the tools’ requirements. In addition, assessment criteria are developed to illustrate the tools’ suitability in setting up a framework for action that could form a basis for RRI implementation.
SpringerBriefs in Research and Innovation Governance, 2015
The book ends with a dialogic tool that asks the reader questions about responsible research and ... more The book ends with a dialogic tool that asks the reader questions about responsible research and innovation (RRI), responsibility, corporate responsibility, risk assessment, diversity, user involvement and other aspects of RRI to test awareness of research and innovation governance concepts and tools. Sample answers are provided.
SpringerBriefs in Research and Innovation Governance, 2015
This book argues that corporate responsibility (CR) tools can help realize the goals of the respo... more This book argues that corporate responsibility (CR) tools can help realize the goals of the responsible research and innovation (RRI) framework. RRI is a newly emerging governance framework, promoted by public funders of research such as the European Commission. When RRI is applied in industry, funder requirements are not enough to implement it, given that private research and innovation funds are involved. Instead, we argue, CR tools are well suited to bridge this gap as they are self-regulatory and have been established to promote a common understanding as well as a common means of performance evaluation globally.
SpringerBriefs in Research and Innovation Governance, 2015
Responsible research and innovation (RRI) is a newly emerging governance framework, promoted init... more Responsible research and innovation (RRI) is a newly emerging governance framework, promoted initially by public funders of research. This chapter explains the concept by defining its individual elements (responsibility, research and innovation). Three case studies are given: one from South Africa, where indigenous community involvement provided a significant lead for a health innovation; one from Germany, where end-user involvement in the innovation process led to faster and less contentious market entry; and one from India, where an innovation significantly improved the lives of the poorest girls and women. The concepts of responsiveness, inclusiveness and providing a societal good are illustrated through the case studies, mapped against policy and academic work on RRI and derived from the earlier discussions of responsibility.
SpringerBriefs in Research and Innovation Governance, 2015
A concise account of corporate responsibility (CR) is provided to facilitate a later comparison o... more A concise account of corporate responsibility (CR) is provided to facilitate a later comparison of CR and responsible research and innovation. The chapter clarifies the concept by discussing different types of corporate responsibilities and explaining their links with similar concepts such as corporate sustainability, corporate accountability, corporate citizenship and corporate social performance. One focus is on how to develop a CR strategy and the main topics that firms need to pay attention to when doing so. Another focus is the benefits stemming from engagement in CR activities.
SpringerBriefs in Research and Innovation Governance, 2015
Corporate responsibility (CR) tools are mapped onto the von Schomberg, Owen and Science with and ... more Corporate responsibility (CR) tools are mapped onto the von Schomberg, Owen and Science with and for Society (SwafS) definitions of responsible research and innovation (RRI) to see which ones may be suitable for adoption within the context of RRI implementation and which gaps remain. Three case studies show how the CR tools selected can facilitate RRI implementation. The first refers to Abengoa, a highly active company in the field of sustainability; the second discusses Seventh Generation’s approach to corporate responsibility and how this links with RRI; and the third presents Teck, a mining company which uses a variety of corporate responsibility tools in managing its operations.
Adopting an International Sustainability Standard (ISS) helps firms improve their sustainability ... more Adopting an International Sustainability Standard (ISS) helps firms improve their sustainability performance. It also acts as a credible market "signal" that legitimizes firms' latent sustainability practices while improving their market value. But how do these signals function when firms adopt multiple ISSs? We show that the relationships between firms' ISSs adoption and their market value and their sustainability performance appear positive. However, beyond a tipping point of 2 ISSs, firms' market gains decline, even though their sustainability performance continues to improve until a tipping point of 3 ISSs. Differing tipping points create a gap that we refer to as the "penalty zone"the place where market value declines, even though firms' actual sustainability performance continues to improve. The penalty zone arises because of imprecisions in market signals and serves as a significant barrier to firms wishing to further their sustainability agenda through additional ISS adoption.
ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and New Management Standards, 2017
Despite the important role certifiable management system standards (CMSS) play in our globalised ... more Despite the important role certifiable management system standards (CMSS) play in our globalised economies, there still exists a gap in the literature regarding firms’ motives to implement these standards. This is mainly due to the fact that existing literature perceives certification as synonymous with implementation and does not take into account that quality of implementation, of CMSS among companies, varies. This chapter makes two important contributions. The first one is that it provides quantitative evidence to the relatively few studies that analyse quality of CMSS implementation. In doing so, this work advances our understanding of the factors that motivate firms to implement these standards. Most importantly, in contrast to previous studies that analyse drivers of average implementation of CMSS, this chapter also examines the motives related to low, medium and above average implementation of such standards. Using a novel dataset of 201, ISO 9001 certified firms, located in Greece, our analysis shows that sixty per cent of firms in the sample fail to conform to the requirements of the standard. In contrast to the dominant neo-institutional view in the analysis of CMSS, our econometric findings suggest that competitive motivations are the influential drivers in making companies fully commit to ISO 9001 (i.e. above average implementation).
Although interest in meaningfulness is mounting in the growing stream of research dedicated to ho... more Although interest in meaningfulness is mounting in the growing stream of research dedicated to how professionals experience it, research has only just begun to investigate the complex relationships between the search for meaningfulness and the constitution of professional identity for emerging professional groups. This paper investigates how meaningfulness interacts with the formation and enactment of professional identity, focusing on the emerging professional group of corporate social responsibility (CSR) consultants. Relying on interviews with 39 CSR consultants, we induce two social mechanisms bridging meaningfulness and professional identity, namely ‘meaning-making through professional self-identification’ and ‘meaning-making through professional socialization’. Our results explain how these mechanisms produce distinct, and potentially contradictory, professional identities of CSR consultants, which themselves enable contrasted forms of professional identity enactment. The stud...
With 190 states taking part in the Paris climate talks, there are clearly some for whom the outco... more With 190 states taking part in the Paris climate talks, there are clearly some for whom the outcome matters more than others. There are the small states, such as Kiribati and the Marshall Islands, for which a deal to reduce global emissions and curb climate change is a matter of survival. Then there are the big players, such as China, the US, Russia and the EU, upon which a deal will rely.
SpringerBriefs in Research and Innovation Governance, 2015
Corporate responsibility (CR) tools have an excellent potential to facilitate the implementation ... more Corporate responsibility (CR) tools have an excellent potential to facilitate the implementation of responsible research and innovation (RRI) in industry. This chapter provides a detailed account of existing CR tools. It develops selection criteria for choosing the tools with the greatest potential to assist the implementation of RRI in industry. Background information on these tools is given, as well as data on the tools’ requirements. In addition, assessment criteria are developed to illustrate the tools’ suitability in setting up a framework for action that could form a basis for RRI implementation.
SpringerBriefs in Research and Innovation Governance, 2015
The book ends with a dialogic tool that asks the reader questions about responsible research and ... more The book ends with a dialogic tool that asks the reader questions about responsible research and innovation (RRI), responsibility, corporate responsibility, risk assessment, diversity, user involvement and other aspects of RRI to test awareness of research and innovation governance concepts and tools. Sample answers are provided.
SpringerBriefs in Research and Innovation Governance, 2015
This book argues that corporate responsibility (CR) tools can help realize the goals of the respo... more This book argues that corporate responsibility (CR) tools can help realize the goals of the responsible research and innovation (RRI) framework. RRI is a newly emerging governance framework, promoted by public funders of research such as the European Commission. When RRI is applied in industry, funder requirements are not enough to implement it, given that private research and innovation funds are involved. Instead, we argue, CR tools are well suited to bridge this gap as they are self-regulatory and have been established to promote a common understanding as well as a common means of performance evaluation globally.
SpringerBriefs in Research and Innovation Governance, 2015
Responsible research and innovation (RRI) is a newly emerging governance framework, promoted init... more Responsible research and innovation (RRI) is a newly emerging governance framework, promoted initially by public funders of research. This chapter explains the concept by defining its individual elements (responsibility, research and innovation). Three case studies are given: one from South Africa, where indigenous community involvement provided a significant lead for a health innovation; one from Germany, where end-user involvement in the innovation process led to faster and less contentious market entry; and one from India, where an innovation significantly improved the lives of the poorest girls and women. The concepts of responsiveness, inclusiveness and providing a societal good are illustrated through the case studies, mapped against policy and academic work on RRI and derived from the earlier discussions of responsibility.
SpringerBriefs in Research and Innovation Governance, 2015
A concise account of corporate responsibility (CR) is provided to facilitate a later comparison o... more A concise account of corporate responsibility (CR) is provided to facilitate a later comparison of CR and responsible research and innovation. The chapter clarifies the concept by discussing different types of corporate responsibilities and explaining their links with similar concepts such as corporate sustainability, corporate accountability, corporate citizenship and corporate social performance. One focus is on how to develop a CR strategy and the main topics that firms need to pay attention to when doing so. Another focus is the benefits stemming from engagement in CR activities.
SpringerBriefs in Research and Innovation Governance, 2015
Corporate responsibility (CR) tools are mapped onto the von Schomberg, Owen and Science with and ... more Corporate responsibility (CR) tools are mapped onto the von Schomberg, Owen and Science with and for Society (SwafS) definitions of responsible research and innovation (RRI) to see which ones may be suitable for adoption within the context of RRI implementation and which gaps remain. Three case studies show how the CR tools selected can facilitate RRI implementation. The first refers to Abengoa, a highly active company in the field of sustainability; the second discusses Seventh Generation’s approach to corporate responsibility and how this links with RRI; and the third presents Teck, a mining company which uses a variety of corporate responsibility tools in managing its operations.
Adopting an International Sustainability Standard (ISS) helps firms improve their sustainability ... more Adopting an International Sustainability Standard (ISS) helps firms improve their sustainability performance. It also acts as a credible market "signal" that legitimizes firms' latent sustainability practices while improving their market value. But how do these signals function when firms adopt multiple ISSs? We show that the relationships between firms' ISSs adoption and their market value and their sustainability performance appear positive. However, beyond a tipping point of 2 ISSs, firms' market gains decline, even though their sustainability performance continues to improve until a tipping point of 3 ISSs. Differing tipping points create a gap that we refer to as the "penalty zone"the place where market value declines, even though firms' actual sustainability performance continues to improve. The penalty zone arises because of imprecisions in market signals and serves as a significant barrier to firms wishing to further their sustainability agenda through additional ISS adoption.
ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and New Management Standards, 2017
Despite the important role certifiable management system standards (CMSS) play in our globalised ... more Despite the important role certifiable management system standards (CMSS) play in our globalised economies, there still exists a gap in the literature regarding firms’ motives to implement these standards. This is mainly due to the fact that existing literature perceives certification as synonymous with implementation and does not take into account that quality of implementation, of CMSS among companies, varies. This chapter makes two important contributions. The first one is that it provides quantitative evidence to the relatively few studies that analyse quality of CMSS implementation. In doing so, this work advances our understanding of the factors that motivate firms to implement these standards. Most importantly, in contrast to previous studies that analyse drivers of average implementation of CMSS, this chapter also examines the motives related to low, medium and above average implementation of such standards. Using a novel dataset of 201, ISO 9001 certified firms, located in Greece, our analysis shows that sixty per cent of firms in the sample fail to conform to the requirements of the standard. In contrast to the dominant neo-institutional view in the analysis of CMSS, our econometric findings suggest that competitive motivations are the influential drivers in making companies fully commit to ISO 9001 (i.e. above average implementation).
Although interest in meaningfulness is mounting in the growing stream of research dedicated to ho... more Although interest in meaningfulness is mounting in the growing stream of research dedicated to how professionals experience it, research has only just begun to investigate the complex relationships between the search for meaningfulness and the constitution of professional identity for emerging professional groups. This paper investigates how meaningfulness interacts with the formation and enactment of professional identity, focusing on the emerging professional group of corporate social responsibility (CSR) consultants. Relying on interviews with 39 CSR consultants, we induce two social mechanisms bridging meaningfulness and professional identity, namely ‘meaning-making through professional self-identification’ and ‘meaning-making through professional socialization’. Our results explain how these mechanisms produce distinct, and potentially contradictory, professional identities of CSR consultants, which themselves enable contrasted forms of professional identity enactment. The stud...
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